Onikeku removed as AFN Technical Director as Okowa dissolves all sub-committees

Samuel Onikeku has been removed as head of the technical sub-committee and technical director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, following the dissolution of all sub-committees by the federation’s president, Tonobok Ojuru Okowa.

Onikeku is one of the two AFN principal officials indicted by an Investigative Committee set up by the former Sports Development Minister, John Owan Enoh, to investigate Nigeria’s negative exposure at the Paris 2024 Olympics and his removal followed the dissolution of all sub-committees put in place in April this year.

The dissolution was announced by Okowa during an executive board meeting of the AFN on Saturday.

Although no reason was given for the dissolution, competent sources close to the Federation revealed it may not be unconnected with the indictment of the two principal officials of the AFN by the Ministerial Investigative Committee.

Onikeku was indicted by the Investigative Committee who viewed his inability to report the ‘hint’ he got and the ‘rumour’ he heard about Favour Ofili’s non-registration for the Paris 2024 Olympics 100m event as ‘poor judgement’ especially with his position as the Technical Director of the AFN at the time and also as a Chief Superintendent of Customs.

‘The Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Samuel Onikeku, should be sanctioned by the Board of AFN – of which he is also a member – for not reporting the “hint” and “rumour” respectively that he heard about the non-registration of the athlete, Favour Ofili, for the 100 meters event.

‘Technical Director Samuel Onikeku is a Chief Superintendent of Customs, a senior officer in the Nigerian Customs Service. He said he didn’t report what he heard about Ofili’s omission because he didn’t want to be involved in any trouble and that, as a para-Military officer, he only obeys the command that he is given.

‘Our Committee is strongly of the view that the AFN Technical Director made a poor judgement by not reporting such an important “hint” or “rumour” about his own athlete’s omission from an Olympic Games event, even if only to cross-check its veracity or otherwise,’ the Investigative Committee wrote.

Also indicted by the Investigative Committee was Rita Mosindi, the Secretary General of the Federation, for negligence.

‘The Secretary General of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Rita Mosindi should be penalized by the appropriate authority for negligence in her duties. She was unable to provide convincing evidence to our Committee to support her claim that she submitted important documents relating to the registration of the athlete, Favour Ofili in the 100 meters, to the Ministry of Sports Development and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC).

‘Rita Mosindi’s reliance on social media WhatsApp messaging as the only means of official communication does not speak well of her competence as an administrative officer,’ the Investigative Committee also wrote in its recommendations.

Recall an AFN audit committee had also indicted Mrs Mosindi in its report of October 2023 for lacking the capacity to act as the chief administrative and financial head of the AFN.

‘The Secretary General should refund all monies spent without budgets and approvals and the Federal Ministry of Sports should urgently redeploy the Secretary General as she has proved not to have the capacity to head the secretariat of the federation and be its chief administrative and accounting officer,’ the AFN audit Committee wrote as part of its recommendations to the board of the federation.

Enoh, the former Sports Development Minister, failed to act on the glaring inadequacies of Mrs Mosindi and his promise, in February this year, to institute an independent panel to undertake a forensic examination of the activities of the AFN, including the audit committee report, did not see the light of the day until he was correctly removed as Sports Development Minister by President Bola Tinubu in a cabinet reshuffle.